


When  the rain came crashing

by Curiosity_at_its_finest



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Harry Potter - Freeform, James Potter - Freeform, Jily Challenge, Lily Evans - Freeform, Summer, jily, summer jily fest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-08
Updated: 2018-07-08
Packaged: 2019-06-07 04:51:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15211484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Curiosity_at_its_finest/pseuds/Curiosity_at_its_finest
Summary: AU Lily’s touring fancy British country houses and somehow ends up at James’ (a la pride and prejudice) and there’s so much fluff and awkward babies





	When  the rain came crashing

Lily Evans had just gotten off the Hogwarts Express, officially finishing her 6th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It had been an interesting year, dealing with NEWT course and whatnot. Even now that all her finals were finished, Lily couldn’t quite shake off the nervous feeling inside her. What if she failed all her exams?! What if she failed all her course and wouldn’t be allowed back at Hogwarts next year!!? What if-!

“Ouff! I’m so sorry! I didn’t see yo- Potter?!”

“Nice to see you too Evans”

“Just watch where you’re going next time!” Lily exclaimed, trying to walk around the tall boy.

“Oh, so you plan on running into me a second time? Don’t worry Lily love, I’ll be there to catch you again!” Potter replied cockily, sending a wink her way before running towards his friends. 

Lily rolled her eyes but didn’t bother shouting at him, instead, she simply continued her walk down the platform in hope of finding her parents. She waved goodbye to other students and friends she saw along the way before she heard the sounds of her mother’s voice calling her.

“Lily! overhear darling!” 

The ginger girl happily ran up into the woman’s arms, sinking into her mothers embrace she so dearly missed. 

“What? Nothing for your dear father?” Her dad teased lightly, snatching Lily in his arms and into a great bear hug.  
“Dad!” Lily shrieked happily, she had never felt safer than when she was surrounded by the love and embrace of her parents. After the small reunion, Lily looked around in hopes of maybe finding her sister, yet the tall blonde was nowhere to be found.

“Petunia didn’t feel like coming?” Lily asked cooly, not wanting to show her disappointment. 

“Oh Lily dear, I’m sorry, but she ran off this morning with her new boyfriend, we didn’t think much of it until it was time to leave. I’m sorry darling, you probably missed your sister, didn’t you. 

While Lily wanted to admit that she did, in fact, miss her sister, but the information revolving around a new boyfriend is what really disturbed her. Had Petunia not thought it important to inform her own sister about her new boyfriend? Or at least to brag about the fact that Lily was still single while she has all the luck in the dating industry. 

“No, it’s okay, I suppose she wanted to spend time with her boyfriend. Will she be back home once we get there?” 

“I’m not sure, she’ll be back before dinner though, that I can assure” Lily’s mother reassured as they all made their way to the car. 

The car ride was anything but silent, as always Lily’s parents had about a million question each, wanting to know every single detail about her year. Lily, of course, was always happy to share the stories of her time at Hogwarts, wanting to share this magical feeling with her parents. 

“And what about that Potter boy you always complained about? Was he a bother to you this year?” Her father asked. 

Lily was about to start off on her usual rant about Potter until she remembered that he hadn’t bothered her this year. In fact, ever since the incident at the end of 5th year she hardly heard from him at all. The only times she ever got wind of Potter this year was when she had to go ask Remus something, the four of them seemed strangely close last year, to the point you rarely cough one of them alone. 

But before Lily could answer, the car pulled up in the familiar driveway and Lily bolted out of the car to get a better view of the home she so dearly missed. 

_________________________________________  
After what was probably the most awkward dinner she ever had to experience in her entire existence, Lily flopped down on the sofa near the fire to try and calm down. She had just gotten into yet another fight with Petunia in the short hours she’s been home. The fight had been about nothing in particular, apparently the fact that Lily was still breathing was a great offense to her older sister and Petunia just had to make a remark. 

“Girls! Can you come into the lounge, please! Oh Lily, your already here! Good, good, your father and I have some exciting news to share with you girls!” Her mother said excitedly, walking into the lounge with a set of evening tea. 

Petunia entered the room rather reluctantly, sitting as far away from Lily as physically possible “Well what is it? I have a date with Vernon at 7h30, he’s taking me to the cinema to see the latest movie, not that you would know anything about that, Lily. What? Are your kind not advanced enough to have-”

“Petunia that’s quite enough!” Her father snapped, “We didn’t ask you into this room to bicker, we brought you here to tell you about a summer trip your mother and I have bee planning for a long time now” 

“Oh yes! We’re going to go visit a series of castles this summer! Starting with Buckingham Palace then Windsor castle and many more! Isn’t that exciting!” Her mother squealed, obviously thinking it was a good idea to have Petunia and Lily sit next to each other for a series of hours as they drove from caste to castle. 

“Yes!! Finally, something decent to do with my time this summer! Oh, mother please tell me Wentworth Woodhouse is somewhere on that list.” Petunia demanded.

Lily, having lived in Hogwarts castle for the better part of 6 years, didn’t really see what was so exciting but she smiled anyway, knowing how hard her parents had worked to make this trip possible. 

Three days later they packed all their things and loaded it into the car It had been tricky to try and pack 2 weeks worth of clothes but they mostly managed, Petunia having brought her entire wardrobe, taking up most of the room in the car. After they finally managed to close the trunk, they took the road up to their first destination. Meer minutes after departure, Petunia was already demanding things. 

Lily packed more books then she did clothes, hopefully enough to keep her busy for a month, but not even Louisa May Alcott’s incredible writing could keep the sounds of her sister shrill voice out of her head. 

“And we simply must visit downtown London afterward, I’m in desperate needs of a new summer wardrobe and London should be the perfect place to get it”

“Ya if you want to sell your soul in the process, sweetheart, there’s no way we can afford any of the fancy shops you goone over. Besides you have perfectly good clothes already, you don’t need anymore.” Her father said.

“What?! What clothes! I demand we go shopping! It’s simply too good of an opportunity to pass up!” Petunia shrieked, causing Lily to cringe, her sister, despite being older, was known for the biggest tantrums when she didn’t get what she wanted. 

“Yes dear! we’ll go downtown! Goodness, there is no need to act like such a child! Lily, is there anything you would like to see on this trip?” Her mother asked gently, realizing Lily hadn’t spoken much about the trip or what she wished to see.

“Can we go see St-Paul Cathedral? I heard it was absolutely beautiful and maybe a few bookstores?” she asked the last part sheepishly, seeing her mother roll her eyes at the mention of more books. 

“Of course darling”

Petunia huffed at the lack of attention thrown her way and proceeded to keep complaining, but 16 years of living with Petunia had taught Lily well, pulling out some earplugs from her bag, she plopped one in each ear and continued reading. 

_________________________________________

2 weeks

17 castles and manors later.

Lily was about to commit her first murder. 

The entire duration of the trip, Petunia did nothing but complain. The point of visiting castle was to do visit new places and admire their beauty and history of the incredible buildings, well apparently Petunia didn’t see it that way. Her older sister packed her best, most expensive clothing hoping to attract the attention of some rich bypasser and whatnot. By the end of the day, if Petunia hadn’t been personally invited into the castle for tea, she would moan and fuss about it for the rest of the day. 

Lily had had enough of her sister whining and was ready to be done with this trip, but they still had about 2 days of castles and manors to visit, then a 5-hour drive back home.

She groaned and tried to fuse herself with her seat as her sister started off on another rant. It had started to rain a few minutes ago and apparently, it was Lily fault the weather turned so poor. 

“Don’t they teach you anything useful at that school of freaks!? Change the weather!” Petunia ordered, poking Lily until she slapped her hand away. 

“One, they teach us many incredible things at Hogwarts, things like how to turn a perfect white blouse in a dirty pig” At the mention of a dirty blouse, Petunia gasped horrified. “And two, I’m not allowed to perform magic outside of school since I’m still underage, so please stop bothering me with your petty problems!”

“Petty problems!? Like you haven’t been a complete pain this entire trip! What with all your demanding and directing! I’m surprised mother and father haven’t dished you on the street yet!” Petunia sneered at her, trying to keep quiet so their parents wouldn’t hear her.

“Petunia Evans! If you don’t apologize to your sister right now I’m keeping all the new clothes we bought you!” Their mother snapped “Please, girls, we only have a few days left to see the things we want to, then we’ll head home and this trip will be over.” Her mother looked upset at the fact that her girls were still fighting, she had hoped that this trip would bring the two closer together, Petunia loving everything fancy and Lily enjoying the history. She thought bringing them to see castle and manors would be the perfect way to spark the old friendship between them again, but two weeks of constant bickering proved otherwise.

The rain was started pouring even more as the minutes went by, to the point where it was very difficult to see the road ahead. They only had another 15 minutes of driving before arriving at the next manor but when the car started lurching and making odd noises, panic spread through all four passengers. 

“I’m sure everything fine, we’re almost there anyway” Their father tried to reassure, however when the car came to an abrupt halt, Lily had a feeling this vacation just went from bad to worse. 

Her dad went out in the pouring rain and opened the front of the car to see what was wrong with it, but when nothing but thick black smoke came out, she knew there was no repairing the car. 

“Okay, okay, no need to panic, someone is sure to drive past soon and maybe they will be willing to help us.” Lily’s mother said.

30 minutes past and not a single car drove by, they were all starting to get a bit worried, sure they didn’t expect many people to past by, they were rather far from any proper town or village but they still expected someone to drive past!

Seeming to have given up, their father said “Right, the next place is only a few minutes aways correct? Why don’t we just walk to it and maybe they have a landline we can use to call for a tow truck?” 

“I don’t think we have any other option at this point,” Their mother sighed, “right then, let’s get to walking, we aren’t going to get any closer by staying cooped up in here”

“WHAT?!?!” Petunia shrieked so loudly Lily had to physically jump back.”You want me to walk in the rain for goodness knows how long in these shoes?! Not happening, send Lily to go find help her something, it’s probably her freakishness that got us in this mess in the first place, get her to fix it!!” 

Lily was about to snap back at her sister, tell her to shove to fake Valentino shoes up her arse, but her mother beat her to it.

“Petunia how on earth could Lily have sabotaged the car with her magic if she isn’t allowed to perform magic outside of her school!? Honestly use your common sense! Now you can either stay here and wait for a tow truck, or someone to drive past the car, or you can walk in the rain for 20 minutes and be greeted by an incredible manor in the end. Which is it?”

Ooooh, her mother knew her sister well. 

With a final pout, Petunia carefully got out of the car, whimpering the second she felt a raindrop hit her and proceeded to complain for the next 30 minutes.

_________________________________________

James Potter was happily sitting in the lounge area with his family. He and Sirius had come home from Hogwarts about 2 weeks ago and were enjoying the time spent with their parents. They hadn’t done any traveling since returning home but they did have picnics and hikes in the hills around there house. As much as he loved the adventure that Hogwarts brought him, there nothing he enjoyed more than time with his parents as sappy as people may think it is. 

Growing up, James was rather lowly, even if his parents showered him with love and affection, they did have other responsibilities to attend to. When those time did come up, James was left alone with only the house elves to keep him company so he didn’t have that many adventures as a child. After his first year at Hogwarts, he invited the other Marauders over for the summer to continue their adventure streak he was so addicted to. There was just something about discovering new things that just drove James forward.

Now, 6 years later, James (finally) learned to appreciate the value of a quiet night at home with family much to his mother enjoyment. He was sitting at the foot of his father chair, happily listening to him read while Sirius was curled into his mother’s side, dozing off as she ran her fingers through his hair on the love seat next to them.

“With a menacing look at the turnkey he crawled upon the heath, and, peering up the chimney, struck and priced at its side-” (A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens) Fleamont was cut off by the sound of someone knocking on the door, they certainly weren’t expecting anyone at this time of night and the wards hadn’t given any indication of threat nearby. 

“Mia, take James and Sirus upstair.” He told his wife, who was already on her feet with her wand out.

“Boys, upstair” She ordered gently, not willing to leave her husband in case of Death Eater attack.

“But mum-” James tried.

“No buts, upstairs both of you” Euphemia said sternly, nothing upset her more than a possible threat on her family and she wasn’t willing to risk her boys’ safety at the moment. Reluctantly, James and Sirius ran upstairs but stood close stairway just in case their parents may need help. 

Fleamont looked through the peephole of the door only to see what looked like a muggle family, very wet and by the looks of it very tired. He cautiously opened the door, his wand out of the view of the muggles, and further examined the four strangers. They didn’t seem like very threatening, in fact, they seemed rather nice.

“Hello? How can I help you?” Fleamont asked kindly, not believing there was any threat since the wards didn’t indicate one. 

“Oh! Yes, hello! Our car broke down and we were wondering if you had a landline we could borrow to possibly call a tow truck?” The woman asked.

Now Fleamont and Euphemia both agreed that as much as they loved muggle technology, neither had any use for a telephone in the manor. They both wrote to the boys when they were in school and there was no other family member or friend who owned one either. They simply didn’t see the point in it. 

“I’m sorry we don’t, but please come in, get warmed up. Euphemia, could you possibly make some tea for our guest, I’ll get some spares blankets.” He asked his wife gently, moving out of the way to the family could come in. Euphemia cast a quick spell to hide any objects Muggles may find strange, after all, it wasn’t the first time they had muggles in their home so they had a general idea of what to do.

She showed the four strangers to the lounge room where Fleamont brought them blankets and left to prepare some tea. As much as she wanted to just conjure some tea with her wand, she decided against it as it may seem suspicious to have a plate of tea ready in under 10 seconds. 

“Mum who was at the door?” Sirius and James walked into the kitchen to see their mother calmy making tea, they hadn’t expected this type of reaction and had half the mind to check if someone cast the Imperio on her. 

“Everythings fine boys, just a nice muggle family got caught in the rain when their car broke down, we’re just helping them a little” Euphemia soothed their worries, with the entire wizarding world on edge it didn’t surprise her that her boys were concerned. 

“So everything’s fine?” Sirius asked hesitantly, he wanted to be completely sure that no harm would come to the Potter, he loved them all too much to see them hurt, or worse. 

Euphemia saw the doubt clear in her boy’s eye. “Don’t worry dear everything’s fine, we’re just letting them warm up and potentially help them with their car too” She soothed, gently kissing Sirius and James on the forehead. “Now why don’t you go help your father get some blanket, and maybe even some dry clothes for our guest, I’ll bring in the tea” 

_________________________________________

 

Lily was surprised when the man at the door let them in the quick, he was obviously of wealth and she felt bad for dripping on his expensive carpet. As her family followed his wife down the hall into the sitting room, she couldn’t help but admire how beautifully the walls were decorated. Portraits of what she assumed were ancestors of the manor hung the velvet walls, as gold decoration gave the hall a shimmering effect. 

“It’s beautiful” She whispered to no one in particular.

“Well thank you deary!” a voice behind her said.

Lily whipped her head around so fast she heard it crack a little, there was no one behind her. Nothing but the portraits and other decorative ornaments stood behind her. Slowly, Lily turned her head towards her parents to see if they heard anything, but they were all up ahead, following the nice lady. Shaking her head, Lily continued walking down the hall when she heard it again.

“Fiery little thing she is.” 

Once again, Lily jumped and spun around to see who the voice belonged to and yet again, no one was there.

‘Calm down Lily,’ she told herself’ you’re probably just really tired’ 

Once they were in the lounge, she sat down next to her mother, an unsettling feeling pursing through her, as if she was being watched. Deciding to ignore, she tried to warm herself up by snuggling closer to her mother.

“Oh you poor dears, the kind man said he might have some blankets for us”

“It was very generous of them to let us in,” Lily’s father said “although I do think it’s a bit odd they don’t have a landline, they obviously have the money for one… or ten”

“To each their own, darling” her mother tutt.

“This is incredible, it’s about time someone recognized my worth and had me in for tea,” Petunia said snobbily “their maids aren’t very quick though are they, we’ve been here for what? Ten minutes and we still don’t have towels or tea”

“Well terribly sorry, I’ll try to be quicker next time, yes?” It was the same lady who showed them into the house, Lily realized, and she didn’t look too pleased.

“I am so sorry, please excuse my daughter faulty mood” Her mother was up immediately, taking some of Lily’s warmth with her.”We are so grateful you were kind enough to let us in your home, Petunia apologize this instant!”

Petunia, not used to being called out for her bullshit, muttered an apology and avoided making eye contact with anyone in the room. 

“My husband and sons should be back any second now with some warm blanket and possibly some dry clothes for you all if you don’t mind waiting another couple minutes.” Lily could see the smile play on the woman’s lips when Petunia blushed furiously.

She liked this woman. 

“You have a beautiful home miss…” Lily started.

“Oh! Just call me Euphemia darling, and thank you, this house has been in my husbands family for many generations.” 

“It’s incredible, I don’t mean to pry but I was very curious about the portraits down the hall” Lily continued, wanting to make conversation with the kind woman, but it seemed her mother had other plans.

“Now Lily, we mustn’t pry on business that isn’t ours, I’m sorry, my Lily here is quite curious.” 

“Nothing wrong with a little curiosity! If you wish once you are properly warmed up I would be happy to give you a tour of the manor” She said to Lily, looking positively at the compliment. “As for the portraits, they’re previous family members, those who have owned and lived here long before my family and I.”

Speaking of her family, Lily could hear more voice coming from down the hall, surprisingly the voices sounded familiar. Too familiar. When Euphemia’s husband walked back into the room, two boys were following him. 

“Right, we’ve got some blankets and warm clothes for you all, James Sirius, could you hand these out for me?” 

“Potter?! Black?!”

“Evans?”

“Lilykins!”

Lily didn’t know what to say, she just sat there with her mouth gaping like a fish. What broke her out of her trance was Petunia shrill voice demanding for a blanket.

“Yes yes lovely reunion, now can someone hand me those clothes!” 

Seeming to wake up from his daze, James handed her a fresh set of clothes and a blanket. She greedily took the pile and left after getting direction to the nearest bathroom.

“Lily! Are these some of your friends from school?” Her Father asked happily, completely oblivious to Lily mortified face.

“I wouldn’t say-”

“Oh ya! Lily and I go wayyyy back! Don’t we Lilykins?” Sirius exclaimed excitedly, taking advantage of the fact James’ brain still hadn’t completely processed Lily Evans in his house. 

“What are you playing at, Black?!” 

“Actually it’s Potter now” Lily was taken aback, not by the comment, but by the fact that all three Potter’s said it at the exact same time. Pride clearly shined in their eyes as they all looked at Sirius, who had a massive grin on his face

“That right Lilykins! It’s Potter now!”

“Will you stop calling me that!!” Lily snapped, she was tired, cold and hungry and the last thing she needed was Black and Potter on her tail. With a great sigh, Lily took the clothes Euphemia handed her and left to change, hoping James and Sirius would leave the time it takes her to come back.

_________________________________________

 

When Lily returned to the lounge area, she was surprised to see everyone had left. She looked around the room and poked her head through the halls to see if she could catch up to whenever they had gone when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Shrieking, she turned around and whipped out her wand out of instinct only to find James with his hands up in surrender.

“Sorry! Sorry, it’s just mum went to give the other a tour of the manor, when your sister started to get impatient and I volunteered to wait for you” James said.

“Huff, of course, you did” Lily muttered.

“I’m sorry, what was that?”

“Nothing, which direction did they go in?” 

And so James lead the way to where the other we’re, trying to make small talk with her but failing miserably. Lily was quite surprised, she had never seemed James Potter like this before, all flustered and nervous. She liked it, it made him appear more human. As the walked along the halls, Lily heard the voice she had earlier, when Euphemia was showing them to the lounge.

“Who’s this young lady, James?”

Lily looked around, determined to find where that bleeding voice came from until she saw James casually talking to the portraits on the wall.

Of course, how has she not known? 

“Hello Ignotus, this is Lily, a u-umm, friend. Yes, a friend from school” James said, looking to Lily as if to confirm or deny what he had just said.

“Hello Lady Lily, I am Ignotus Peverell, one of the earlier members of this family” Ignotus explained but was soon cut off.

“Yes, Yes, but it was I, whom was the first Potter to dub this family” another voice said, and Lily looked up to see another man in a portrait diagonal to Ignotus.

“Hello Linfred,” James said to the man in the portrait, Linfred, then turned to Lily who had an expression of shock on her face “Lily, this is Linfred, one of the earliest members of the Potter family were able to track.”

“Oh, how fascinating! And what time period are you from,” she asked intrigued.

As Lily continued to chat with all the portraits, he couldn’t help but smile. She was as addicted to learning as he was with adventure. In the end, he supposed both terms meant the same thing, you discover new things in them. As he led Lily down the hall he found conversation flowed surprisingly easier than before, maybe because he was more relaxed? He didn’t know for sure. 

Right now he was telling her of the time he and Sirus tried to convince their mum to let them keep a pet niffler.

“What!? Really?” Lily said laughing.

“Haha ya, Sirius and I found him on a morning stroll, he kept clinging to my arm so I took him home, little did I know all he wanted were the silver buttons on my robe” James responded, laughing along with her as the finally reached the others.

“There you are,” Lily’s mother said “I was beginning to think you might have run off to explore” 

“Not yet I haven't” she replied, grinning back at James.

“Not that we would have minded, there’s a lot of old stuff in the house that’s sure to catch your attention” James replied, winking at Lily when she rolled her eyes.

“Well then if there’s so much, why don’t we spend tomorrow looking for them”

By now James probably looked crazy with the grin threating to split his face in half.

“Sounds like an adventure!”

**Author's Note:**

> I got this idea from here, it was a post made on gryffindormischief blog on Tumblr.


End file.
